In recent weeks, we have been conducting extensive internal testing of an upcoming content update for Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Given the scale of the update, which includes changes to the matchmaking experience and party system, we are expanding testing to include select members of the Xbox One Preview program to ensure the official release is the best possible experience for all players.
The content update beta test is open to Xbox One owners within North America who have a copy of Halo: The Master Chief Collection and have opted-in for Xbox One beta testing as part of the Xbox One Preview program. This is an opt-in opportunity and the content update will only be made available to selected participants within the Xbox One Preview program, based on the highest levels of engagement with Halo: The Master Chief Collection. On Friday, January 23, participants selected will be prompted to download

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the content update automatically when the title is started.
To learn more about the content update beta test, please see the FAQ below.Q: I’m a Preview Member, how I do sign up?
A: More details on the program and how to sign up are available with the Xbox Preview Dashboard app on your Xbox One.Q: Why are you testing the content update in the Xbox One Preview program? Don’t you have internal playtesting for the very same purpose?
A: In recent weeks, 343 Industries has been conducting extensive internal testing of the upcoming content update. However, given the scale of the update, which includes changes to the Halo: The Master Chief Collection matchmaking experience and party system, we are opening it up to members of the Xbox One Preview program to provide additional testing in an “at home” environment to ensure the official release is the best possible experience for players.Q: What is included in the content update you are testing in Xbox One Preview program?
A: This content update includes changes to the Halo: The Master Chief Collection matchmaking experience and party system. We will have more details to share as we get closer to the official release.Q: Who will be eligible/invited to participate in this beta test of the next content update for Halo: The Master Chief Collection?
A: Xbox One owners within North America who have a copy of Halo: The Master Chief Collection and have opted-in for Xbox One beta testing as part of the Xbox One Preview program will be eligible to participate in this program.Q: Why are only players within North America eligible to participate in this beta test?
A: Due to the beta testing session times, we are selecting players within North America to ensure optimal population.Q: How are participants being selected for this beta test?
A: Xbox One owners within North America who are part of the Xbox One Preview program, have a copy of Halo: The Master Chief Collection with the highest levels of engagement are who we are targeting.Q: When will the beta test of this content update take place?
A: Exact dates/times are subject to change, but the current plan is to test the content update during the evenings of Friday, January 23 through Monday, January 26. Specific session times will be shared with the selected participants.Q: If I am selected to participate, how will I get access/download the content update? When will it be available?
A: On Friday, January 23 (exact time to be determined) participants selected will be prompted to download the content update automatically when Halo: The Master Chief Collection is started. Q: If I’m selected to participate, am part of the Xbox One Preview program and have automatic downloads enabled…will I automatically get this update?
A: This is an opt-in opportunity and the content update will only be made available to selected participants within the Xbox One Preview program. On Friday, January 23 (exact time to be determined) participants selected will be prompted to download the content update automatically when Halo: The Master Chief Collection is started. Q: If I’m selected to participate, how should I report a bug in the content update beta test?
A: If you run into any issues while checking out the beta update, be sure to use the Feedback app on the Xbox One (for Xbox One Preview program participants) to tell us about it. Hold the power button on your controller, then select "Give Feedback" to launch the Feedback app.Q: What will be the anticipated file size of the content update for this beta test?
A: We are still determining the final file size of the content update, but participants should have 1-2GB of hard drive space available.Q: Will I still be able to use multiplayer matchmaking against other players that don’t have this content update?
A: No, during the time of this beta test when this content update is installed, you will only be able to be matched with other players that also have the content update.Q: After the beta test of this content update is over, will I be able to use multiplayer matchmaking against other players without this content update?
A: In the days after the conclusion of the beta test, we will issue a content update that will then allow matchmaking with all players, as it worked prior to the beta test.Q: When will be the final public release of the content update to all owners of Halo: The Master Chief Collection?
A: We’re currently focused on gathering data and feedback from Xbox One Preview Program members and will have more details to share soon on the public release of this content update.

A STATUS UPDATE FROM BONNIE ROSS ON HALO: THE MASTER CHIEF COLLECTION
read:

Spoiler!

On Nov 11th we released Halo: The Master Chief Collection. The goal being to create a tribute to Halo fans around the world, and to celebrate the Master Chief’s debut on Xbox One. With the initial release of Halo: The Master Chief Collection, however, we have not delivered the experience you deserve. I personally apologize for this on behalf of us all at 343 Industries. Our team is committed to working around the clock until these issues are resolved.

While our team works on continual improvements and towards solutions, my commitment to you is that we will take care of all owners of Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Our primary and continued focus is first on fixing the issues at hand. Once we’ve done that, we will detail how we will make this right with our fans.

On the matchmaking front, we have encountered unexpected issues that were not apparent in our internal test environment and that have resulted in a frustrating experience, including long matchmaking times and low session success rates. Within 343 Industries and Xbox, I can assure you that resolving these issues is our #1 priority. We continue to partner with the Xbox platform team to analyze all data to make ongoing server-side adjustments to continually improve the matchmaking experience. We are also preparing additional content updates that will address existing campaign, UI, and other issues to improve the overall experience. With each update we will carefully analyze data to confirm that the improvements we’re seeing internally are also happening with fans at home.

Know that we’re trying to be as nimble as possible to put fixes in place. We are planning multiple server-side tweaks and game content updates over the coming weeks. Looking forward, I want to give you a high-level cadence of the latest updates we’re currently working on. Development and testing of our latest content update continues and we are on track for release later this week. We will update you on the status and patch notes of the content update once we have a better understanding of our release window. Only through making changes on both the “server side” (matchmaking and other server rulesets) and, via content updates (to the game itself), can we make the significant progress we’re working towards. And in the interest of expediency, we’re attacking the problem from both sides, non-stop.

As we have been, we will continue to post the details of our updates and other adjustments on Halo Waypoint. Please check our forums at http://aka.ms/mcc_updates for the latest details as we roll out further fixes.

Please accept my heartfelt apologies for the delay and for the negative aspects of your experience to date. We’re doing everything in our power to resolve it as quickly as possible.

Addressed a number of issues that resulted in extended matchmaking times and low matchmaking success rates.

Made a number of updates to how matchmaking progress is communicated to the player. With this update, you’ll see better, more frequent and more informative status updates throughout the matchmaking flow – so “Players Found” for example, will be displayed to let players know where they are in the matchmaking process instead of simply wondering if it’s going to connect.

The improved matchmaking flow is as follows:

Searching

Searching for more players

Players found

Finalizing matchmaking process

Connecting session

Made an update to ensure that parties stick together when returning from the post-game carnage report

Prevented the ability for players “kick” other players from matchmaking games

Made an update to ensure that the Roster correctly displays the “searching” UI rather than “My Game Session” while searching for players

Removed the possibility to boost ranking through a custom games exploit

Made an update to ensure that players cannot get stuck in the matchmaking screen during map voting

Made an update to ensure that the “Connecting to your game” message no longer incorrectly displays in the lower right of the screen during gameplay

Made an update to the “team creation” phase that allows players to be grouped by team

Made an update to prevent players from seeing the “connection failed” dialogue if disconnected during the map voting screen

Improved roster / matchmaking lobby stability

Made improvements to the accuracy and stability of the “Game Session Details” UI

Improved version compatibility

UI

Improved emblem and nameplate behavior to ensure that they do not reset to default (especially after game sessions)

Corrected career stats that did not update uniformly across different profiles in multiple titles

Improved Forge map display names in Theater

Corrected various medal inconsistencies across titles

Campaign

Made updates to the attainability of various achievements, including “Goat Roped,” “Monopolized,” “You’re Joking,” and “Devastating.”

Improved Halo: CE career stat tracking

Resolved scoring and time HUD reset and display issues

Made an update to ensure that rival emblems are displayed correctly

Halo: CE

Improved consistency and reliability of shot registration

Improved headshot hitboxes

Fixed an issue where respawning players could momentarily appear at their death location

Made an update to ensure that the match ends when the entire opposing team quits

Improved split-screen party functionality to ensure that players are not directed to a broken lobby screen after completing a game session

Improved Forge mode stability

Made an update to King of the Hill scoring to prevent multiple hills from counting down at the same time

Improved Shrine objective spawn points

Improved King of the Hill and Ninjanaut mode stability

Addressed an issue where controller vibration could persist during the pause menu

Improved Race mode respawn zones

We have additional content updates on the way, and work is already underway in an effort to continue to improve your experience with Halo: The Master Chief Collection. We thank you for your continued patience and support.

@Brav has been updating everyone on Twitter every few hours, they are coming out with another MM patch today as well as a campaign patch. There has been no set time. He said he is working with the team and they will put it out asap

"We are holding on introducing the dedicated Halo: CE playlist. Up until this very day, we’ve been making (and are continuing to make) investments to ensure that Halo: CE’s online/network performance is the best it can be within Halo: The Master Chief Collection, and we’re committed to making additional investments to make this happen. The current Halo: CE experience will be playable in custom games, as well as the Team Slayer and Big Team Battle playlists, but we are holding on the dedicated playlist until we are able to provide the best experience possible. Lastly, due to your feedback over the past few weeks, we’ll be moving the Halo: CE playlist to 2v2 when it launches."

Also, due to community feedback, they've since corrected/are correcting empty weapon drops (PC bug), weapon/camo/OS times and the snipe reticule.

Coming November 11, 2014 to Xbox One for $60, Halo: The Master Chief Collection is a single Blu-ray disc featuring the campaigns and multiplayer from Halo 1/2/3/4 and Halo 4's Spartan Ops, all running on their original engines at 1080p* and 60 frames per second. Also includes Halo 5: Guardians multiplayer beta and Halo: Nightfall weekly live-action series. There is a unified master menu from which everything can be seamlessly launched.

All of the campaigns have two-player splitscreen co-op. Halo 1/2 have two-player Xbox Live co-op, and Halo 3/4 have up to four-player Xbox Live co-op. Halo 2's campaign has remastered Anniversary graphics and audio, terminals, additional skulls, and redone CGI cutscenes and new prologue and epilogue CGI cutscenes courtesy of Blur Studios. Halo 1's campaign retains its updated graphics from Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, and Halo 1/2 campaigns can be switched in real time between original and Anniversary graphics. All of the missions in every campaign come unlocked out of the box, and there are campaign playlists, like all of the Warthog missions from every game.

There are over a hundred total multiplayer maps, including all original and DLC console maps and PC exclusives from every game, plus six Halo 2 Anniversary maps (remakes on a new Xbox One engine: Ascension, Coagulation, Lockout, Sanctuary, Warlock, and Zanzibar). Custom games can be played on Xbox Live, system link, and splitscreen. There are separate matchmaking playlists for each game (including one just for classic Halo 2 and another just for Halo 2 Anniversary) and playlists that span everything. Matchmaking uses dedicated servers, Xbox Live customs will use one of the players as host. There is no join-in-progress in matchmaking. There is a single ranking system for everything, and it's identical to Halo 2. There are game-specific control schemes and universal schemes that work in every game. Button glitches, like BXR, will still work in the original engines, but probably not in Halo 2 Anniversary multiplayer. Super bounces won't be the same because they depended in a very particular way on how the geometry was rendered, which the difference in resolution will likely screw up. Forge mode is included for Halo 3/4 and Halo 2 Anniversary.

* Halo 2 campaign is the one exception, not full 1080p because of the Anniversary graphics and classic engines running at the same time (instant switch) but higher than 720p.

The Game is Gold, which means if you choose to buy a digital copy you can preload it (about 45GB), set it to auto-update so the 20GB's extra at release are downloaded ASAP.
For physical copy:

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Originally Posted by Its PJ Bia

You will have to only download the 20gb update, but you will need to install the 45gb game. They do a allow you to start playing the game once it's about 25% installed, but its usually just single player at that point.

SWAT (ROTATIONAL)
Aim for the head! A collection of SWAT game types on our favorite maps from Halo 2, Halo 3, Halo 4, and Halo 2: Anniversary. Players have no shields and are equipped with rifles. 4v4.

Game Types: H2 Team SWAT, H2A Team SWAT, H3 Team SWAT, H4 Team SWAT, plus a sampling of SWAT Objective game types from each game, including CTF and Crazy King